Critic's Grade: A+

This 3 hour film follows the 40 year struggle by a working man against a group of aristocratic dillettantes,over credit for the development of the modern chronometer,and the technical solution to determining longitude at sea.
As part of Britain's effort to Rule the Waves,the Admiralty offered 20,000
Pounds to the first person to solve the problem of latitude.THis was done within a few years by a rural watchmaker,Jo Harrison(Michael Gambon),who then wasted the rest of his life fighting to claim his prize.

The popular writer Bill Bryson decided recently to take on the history of science,and his principal conclusion was:"There are three stages in scientific discovery:first people deny that it is true;then they deny that it is important;finally they credit the wrong person."

The importance of this film is that it illustrates how all scientific research proceeded in the 18th Century.Some little guy somewhere spent his whole life coming up with some invention or discovery,to have it stolen by some British Royal Society.The only thing different in this story is that the protagonist outlived his adversaries.

To give an idea of Harrison's accomplishment,before the American Revolution,using wooden parts,he created a timepiece that had an error of only a few seconds a month,which could be used to determine longitude within 5 miles.His 4th device,a more compact jeweled movement received no substantial challenge untill the atomic clock.

The Admiralty delayed over 40 years in adopting this device,leading to thousands of preventible deaths at sea.

This is an obviously popular story,as the DIscovery Channel,National Geographic,and others have made their own versions to compete with A&E.

All Reviews by Fred Landis
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